Starshine

By Susan Hart

Help Wanted: A large mall springs up seemingly overnight in place of an apple orchard and suddenly; the number of stores inside intrigues the townspeople. The startling thing is that that all of the shopkeepers seem to know about the applicants even before they open their mouths. Empathy – A man with psychic and empathetic powers decides that the fragile and topsy-turvy state of the union is about to collapse, so he devises a plan to fix it. Raymond the Automatic House – After a war, an ex-soldier stumbles across an apparently empty house in the woods.Terran Spies on An Alien Planet - A government official on a planet currently at war with earth, finds two supposed spies at a bar and suspects they are Terran agents. They are pretty ‘dense’ and after grilling them for a period of time, he follows up on a couple of tips they give him and their supposedly real reason for being on the planet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Hart
• Release date: Feb 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463210925

Susan Hart

I was born in England, but have lived in Southern California for many years. I m now retired and live in the Pacific NW in a little seaside city amongst the giant redwoods and wonderful harbor, almost at the Oregon border. My husband and I have one cat, called Midnight and she is featured in two of my latest Sci-Fi short stories. I love Science Fiction, animals, and trying to help others. I publish under Doreen Milstead as well as my own name. My photo was taken right before the coronation of QE II in the UK.

Book preview

Starshine

By

Susan Hart

Copyright 2020 Susan Hart

Table of Contents

Help Wanted

Empathy

Raymond the Automatic House

Terran Spies on an Alien Planet

Help Wanted

Synopsis: Help Wanted: A large mall springs up seemingly overnight in place of an apple orchard and suddenly; the number of stores inside intrigues the townspeople. Most advertise for Help Wanted and several of the locals apply. The startling thing is that that all of the shopkeepers seem to know about the applicants even before they open their mouths. This is a classic Sci-Fi story suitable for any age, in the vein of the Old Masters of Sci-Fi. Many of the townspeople will reunite at the mall after losing track of each other.

It was a pleasant day in the month of May when the Mysterious Woods Shopping Mall opened for business in the former apple orchard outside of Gem City, Ohio. The small town next to it had known about the new mall, which would take the place of the sleepy little apple orchard Farmer Joe used to own. Farmer Joe had grown tired of the kids at the new development coming over and stealing his corn in the winter and pumpkins in the fall.

One day a man appeared who wanted to build a big shopping mall on the farmland. He quoted Farmer Joe a price and the deal was done that afternoon. Farmer Joe’s family had owned the land for generations, but he was tired of the back-breaking work of tending the orchard and planting his crops every spring. If someone wanted the land for a mall, so much the better for him. He was never heard from again after moving out of the farmhouse, but people would claim to have seen him in Florida, soaking up the sunshine on the beach.

A few weeks later the announcements for the mall began to appear all over town. Billboards would proclaim the new shopping center, which would be opening soon in the old orchard. The woods had been known as the Mystery Woods at the edge of Farmer Joe’s land. He had never done much with that particular patch of woods, preferring to let it lay fallow and provide a habitat for the game he hunted in the fall. The mall was slated to be placed on the spot where his farm had stood for generations, but not interfere with the woods. However, the proximity of it to the woods caused the name to stick.

It was early in the year nineteen-seventy and the hectic decade before it was winding down. People wanted to get the excesses of the past few years over and shop! The mall would be open to everyone. It would provide jobs for many of the people who lived in the town. Not everyone wanted to work at an auto plant and a clean, inside retail job seemed to be a good start for the high school kids

Ads appeared in the newspaper announcing the opening of the mall and the jobs that needed to be filled. Flyers appeared on doors and in the mail. Whoever was building the mall had a keen sense of design, as it looked very modern from the information: Steel, glass and concrete. It was an open-air mall, which was still a new concept. Just about every other shopping mall built was enclosed in a big box so the shoppers could make their purchases in all sorts of weather.

The new mall wanted to duplicate a village and was open to the outside. People could wander around and find what they needed in the open. It lacked a cinema, which was unusual, but had all the other stores a good mall should possess. The mall was going to contain one hundred fifty stores, which was more than anyone had ever seen in one place.

A list of stores was published in the local papers and everyone grabbed the Sunday edition just to find out which ones would be there. Oddly enough, no one had heard of any of these stores before, but they carried everything the town needed. There were clothing stores, shoe stores, restaurants, record stores, and even bookstores. A big hobby store was located near the parking lot, which had the local kids excited. The mall would include several toy stores as well.

The planning team from the mall made a quick appearance one night at the city building. They showed the mayor and his aides how much the town would benefit from the new mall. The team consisted of four men with very educated names, but who showed the city planning commission everything they wanted to hear. It was rumored money changed hands and favors were made at the meeting, but no one ever proved a thing.

The only thing that made planning commission pause was the lack of requests for heavy machinery. The city had a small clause in all construction permits, which regulated the heavy machines used on a job site. Critics claimed it was a subtle way for the local contractors to get control of the big jobs, but the city responded by saying they needed it to be sure that safety was maintained. The people who were building the mall said it wouldn’t be necessary, as their own people would have it up in no time.

It went up very quickly. One day there was an abandoned apple orchard, the next day the mall appeared. At the time, the road wasn’t used that much. A truck driving to the fruit farm from the civic arena cruised down the road one fall morning when the mist from the evening rain was clearing. He saw it part to reveal a completed